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(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

I W. FLYNN.

PON'TON BRIDGE. No. 464,962. Patented Dec." 15, 18 91.

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W. PLYN N PONTON BRIDGE.

No. 464,962. Patented Dec. 15, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM FLYNN, OF SIOUX CITY, IOlVA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES D. NOONEY, OF SAME PLACE, AND JOHN NOONEY, OF NEOEDAH, VIS- OONSIN.

PONTON-BRIDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,962, dated December 15, 1891.

Application filed September 29, 1890- Serial No. 366,453. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM FLYNN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux City, county of Woodbury, State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ponton-Bridges, of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description as will enable any one skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to ponton or floating bridges, which consist in general of pontons or floats secured together on the order of a catar 5 maran; and the invention consists in the novel and peculiar arrangements and combinations of the various parts of the apparatus, all as hereinafter fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my improved bridge, Figure 1 is a sectional view of a portion of the bridge, taken on a vertical plane longitudinally of the bridge, as indicated by line 1 1 in Fig. 2.. Fig. 2 is a top 2 5 plan view of a portion of the bridge with part of the roadway omitted. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on a plane indicated byline 3 3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the deck of one of the pontons,

showing the post in elevation, to which a tierod and connecting cable or chain is attached, as hereinafter described. Fig. 5 is a detached side view of one of the bridge-beams.

In the said drawings like numbers of reference designate like and corresponding parts throughout 7 Referring to the drawings, 7 7 designate pontons or flat-bottom boats, which are placed together side by side in the water, (indicated at 8.) The pontons may or may not be provided with a deck 9. Upon adjacent pontons are mounted by their ends a set of bridgebeams 10 10, which run transversely or crosswise of the pontons and rest upon a support 5 12. The adjacent ends of each set of the bridge-beams are hinged together on a horizontal axis in such manner that the pontons may rock from side to side. In the construction shown the adjacent ends of the sets of beams 10 are overlapped and held movably together on the support 12 by means of pivots or bolts 11, which are disposed substantially in the same horizontal line, thereby affording a horizontal axis for the beams to swing on.

The bridge-beams 10 are placed upon a support 12, so as to elevate the beams slightly above the deck-level. The supporting-bean1 12 is arranged centrally and longitudinally of the ponton and is placed upon the deck 9 thereof; but in the absence of the deck 9 this Y support may extend from end to end of the boat and be supported in operative position in any suitable manner, the purpose being to have the bridge-beams rest upon this support at a slight elevation above the deck-level.

The hinged ends of the bridge-beams 10 rest upon the support 12 of adjacent pon-. tons, and these ends may be movably secured to said support by means of a rod 14, 1 which is secured to the support in vertical 1 position and has its upper end formed with a hook or eye, through which passes a pivot or bolt 11 of the beams. The rod 14: may either be an ordinary-shaped screw-eye set in the supporting-beam 12 or it may extend through the beam 12 and down through the deck 9, with a nut upon its lower end, as indicatedin the drawings. Each of the hinge-bolts 11 may be provided with one of the connecting rods 14, or only the bolts at each side of the bridge may be so provided. The lower edge of the beams 10 at each end thereof is formed with a notch 15 for receiving the supportingbeam 12 upon the pontons. Both faces of the i notch 15 are slightly inclined, so that they form an obtuse angle with each other, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. This construction is. 1' designed to give freedom of movement to the pontons in rolling from side to side and g swinging on their hinge-joints.

The bridge-beams 1O 10 support the roadway 16, which may be of any suitable chairacter. The roadway herewith shown consists merely in planks or boards placed across the g upper sides of the beams and secured thereto by means of spikes. By virtue of having the pontons supporting a set of bridge-beams with their adjacent ends hinged together the roadway of the bridge formed thereby is made 1 so as to extend obliquely between them. These rods are preferably used in pairsso as to cross each other horizontally, and their ends are loosely connected to the pontons. The tie-rods serve to hold the pontons in place side by side, since they prevent either lateral or endwise displacement of one ponton relative to the other. The tie-rods may be attached to the pontons in any suitable manner, though in the construction shown the attacho ment consists in a post 20, having a horizontal perforation 21, which runs obliquely of the length of the ponton andthrough which loosely passes the tie-rod 19, the end of which is provided with a nut or cap, the ends of the rod 2 5 being screw-threaded to receive the cap, which may be tightened or loosened for adjustment. The attaching-posts are preferably located at the extreme ends of the boats or pontons and near the center thereof, and the rods are 0 preferably placed so as to pass between the bridge-beams and decks of the pontons, the elevation of the bridge-beams above the decklevel being sufficient to easily permit of this arrangement.

The bridge as above described forms a very firm and permanent structure; but in order to strengthen the'entire structure and lash it together more securely I provide the cables 23, which are arranged at each side of the bridge and pass through perforations 24 in each of the posts 20. These connections 23 may be ordinary ropes or chains or wire cables and pass through the posts 20 between the rods 19 and the deck of the ponton and are 5 to be anchored at each end of the bridge or sis any section thereof in any suitable manner.

The important advantages of the invention are that the weight which may be imposed upon any one of the sections is distributed to \5o'the pontons supporting the other sections.

The sections of the bridge have all necessary freedom when moved by the rolling of the pontons, thereby preventing any severe straining of the structure, and that the structure may be readily taken apart and put togetherfor the purpose of transportation.

Having thus described my improvements in ponton-bridges, what I claim as my invention,

a and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

r 1. In a ponton-bridge,the combination, with a set of pontons, each having a centrallydisposed supporting-beam, of a series of bridge-beams for sustaining the roadway, supported at their ends on the supporting-beams of adjacent pontons, having their adjacent ends hinged together, and connecting-rods 2. In a ponton-bridge, the combination, with a set of pontons arranged side by side, of one or more tie-rods connecting one end of one ponton at or about its longitudinal center with the center of the opposite end of an adjacent ponton, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a ponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons arranged side by side and one or more cables or chains running trans versely thereof and connecting them together, of one or more tie-rods connecting one end of one ponton at or about its longitudinal center with the center of the opposite end of the adjacent ponton, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. In a ponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons arranged side by side and provided at their ends with centrallylocated posts having perforations or eyes for receiving a connecting cable or chain, of a connecting cable or chain extending transversely of the pontons and passing through the perforations or eyes of the said posts, and tie-rods connecting a post at one end of a ponton with a post at the opposite end of the adjacent ponton, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a ponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons 7 7, of a series of bridgebeams 10 10 for sustaining the roadway, mounted transversely upon adjacent pontons and having their adjacent ends hinged or movably connected together and resting upon an adjacent ponton, and connecting-rods 14 for connecting the hinged ends of the beams to the adjacent ponton, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a ponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons 7 7, lashed together side by side, of a series of bridge-beams 1O 10 for sustaining the roadway, mounted transversely upon adjacent pontons and hinged thereto by their ends, the ends of said beams 10 being sloped at 18, and the roadway-planks 16 16,

mounted upon beams'lO, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a ponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons 7 7 for sustaining the roadway, of attaching-posts 20,- mounted near the ends of the pontons and formed with perforations 21 and 24:, the tie-rods 19, connecting diagonally-opposite posts 20 of adjacent pontons and .passin g through the perforations 21 thereof, and cables or chains 23, extending through the perforations 24 of said attaching-posts 20, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. In aponton-bridge, the combination,with a set of pontons 7 ,7, each provided with a centrally-disposed supporting-beam 12, of a series of bridge-beams 10 for sustaining the IIO roadway, secured at their ends to the said supports 12 of adjacent pontons, having their adjacent ends hinged together by means of bolts 11 and resting upon the said support 12 of adjacent pontons, and the connecting- 5 rods 14:, attached to the adjacent pontons and loosely connected with the bolts 11, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set VILLIAM FLYNN.

w runQSSGS:

H. V. EASTON, H. B. EVANS. 

